Tuesday, June 05, 2007

You already know this story. Magic lost out on 1980 Rookie of the Year honors to Bird, but his Lakers made it to the Finals and Bird's Celtics did not, losing to the 76ers in five games in the Eastern Conference finals. Then Magic went out and won a decisive Game 6 against Philadelphia almost by himself. With Abdul-Jabbar injured and out of the lineup, Johnson switched to center and scored 42 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 12 dimes as the Lakers eliminated the Sixers in Philly. It is still considered the best one-game performance in Finals history.